The Christian Civic League of Maine's Mike Hein calls Pam's House Blend: "a leading source of radical homosexual propaganda, anti-Christian bigotry, and radical transgender advocacy."
He is "praying that Pam Spaulding will "turn away from her wicked and sinful promotion of homosexual behavior."
(CCLM's web site, 10/15/07)
Ex-gay "Christian" activist James Hartline on Pam:
"I have been mocked over and over again by ungodly and unprincipled anti-christian lesbians."
(from "Six Years In Sodom: From The Journal Of James Hartline," 9/4/2006, written from the "homosexual stronghold" of Hillcrest in San Diego).
"Pam is a 'twisted lesbian sister' and an 'embittered lesbian' of the 'self-imposed gutteral experiences of the gay ghetto.'" -- 9/5/2008
Peter LaBarbera of Americans for Truth Against Homosexuality heartily endorses the Blend, calling Pam:
A "vicious anti-Christian lesbian activist." (Concerned Women for America's radio show [9:15], 1/25/07)
"A nutty lesbian blogger." (MassResistance radio show [16:25], 2/3/07)
Pam's House Blend always seems to find these sick f*cks. The area of the country she is in? The home state of her wife? I know, they are everywhere. Pam just does such a great job of bringing them out into the light.
--Impeach Bush
who monitors yours Bevis ?? Just thought I would drop you a line,so the rest of your life is not wasted.
Triangle Journal News in Memphis and, since April 2006, she has been a regular panelist on Out & About Today on News Channel 5 in Nashville. Previously, she was a columnist for Out & About Nashville from August 2004 to December 2005 and the author of Casa Marisa, a monthly column in Transgender Community News from July 1999 to August 2004.
Prof. Richmond is another member of the trans community who I've asked to share their thoughts on federal hate crime legislation -- the hate crime legislation that was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009.
~~Autumn~~
By Marisa Richmond, Ph.D.
The recent adoption of hate crimes legislation by the United States Government is a major step forward for the transgender community. this is the first time any positive legislation for LGBT people has ever been adopted, and for it to be fully inclusive makes this extra special.
For years, transgender activists fought to be included in this legislation because of the ongoing level of violence against transgender people across the nation. For many of us, the darkest hour came in 2005 when nearly 40 national groups singed a joint letter to members of the U.S. Senate urging them to adopt the fully inclusive bill which had passed the House, while another group, after pledging they would fight "only" for fully inclusive legislation, both refused to sign that letter and issued its own urging Senators to ignore the House action and adopt a separate bill that left transgender people. The argument that this "strategy" was necessary to pass such a bill was bigoted and, simply, poor politics.
Transgender Day of Remembrance, we can remember all that we lost in the knowledge that future victims of gender based violence will have those crimes aggressively investigated and prosecuted.
We should not forget, however, that the battle to end violence against transgender people has not been totally won. We still have to end discrimination in the workplace. Many communities still do not have any protections and must rely on the Federal government to take action to ensure they have a level playing field.
There is also the problem of what to do for those who live in states where there is a lack of interest in pursuing even an investigation of violence against transgender people. My home state of Tennessee is one such place. Our largest city, Memphis, home of the Blues, Barbeque, and Elvis, has become identified as the most dangerous city in the country for transgender people. I am regularly asked by other trans people if it is safe for them to visit Memphis.
The Tennessee Transgender Political Coalition (TTPC) has a bill in the Tennessee General Assembly, SB0253 by Beverly Marrero (D-Memphis)/HB0335, by Rep. Jeanne Richardson (D-Memphis), which would add "gender identity or expression" to Tennessee's Hate Crimes statute. Currently, Tennessee is one of 38 states which does not provide protection for transgender residents. The rash of hate crimes against transgender persons, especially against African American transgender women in Memphis, make passage of this bill even more important here. Having an additional tool available to victims will make life safer for everyone and send a message that the lives of transgender people in Tennessee have value too.
We encourage everyone in the other 37 states that do not have hate crimes laws covering all LGBT people to continue the work to raise awareness of violence against all of us and to push to make sure your state laws match the federal one so that victims can pursue justice on every available front.
Thanks again to everyone across this great nation who worked hard to make sure that transgender people were not left behind and to see that the lives of transgender people are now recognized as having value.
This is a guest post by Vanessa Edwards Foster. Vanessa Edwards Foster, a longtime activist, is co-founder and current President of the National Transgender Advocacy Coalition (NTAC), a grassroots coalition of transgender Americans who are politically active and lobby locally, statewide and at the national level.
Vanessa was also the first trans individual ever elected President of a chapter of a National Women's Political Caucus (NWPC) for Harris County in her home, Houston TX. Vanessa is a half-white/half-native transgender woman; she was an Obama delegate in 2008--returning to the Democratic National Convention as a delegate for a second time.
Vanessa is another member of the trans community who I've asked to share their thoughts on federal hate crime legislation -- the hate crime legislation that was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009.
~~Autumn~~
by Vanessa Edwards Foster
It's been a long time coming. The historic passage of hate crimes legislation and signature into law by the President signals the very first federal law covering trans people in America. My emotions, though, are mixed: ebullience, wistfulness, solemnity, sadness
To have this finally pass, and to have it inclusive of trans people, is a major victory. Since 1997, I've been consistently taking time, shelling out money and visiting offices all over Washington DC and Austin - and even once in Annapolis this year - in attempt to get even this, the most elemental protection, passed with coverage for us all. With this official passage last week, all the memories of where we've all collectively been working to achieve what's finally reality - seemingly against all odds - come streaming in.
In 1999 I had the opportunity to pull in the most critical component of what would eventually be the key to eventual passage of the James Byrd Hate Crimes Bill in Texas two years later. Taking two of my gay friends on their very first lobbying visit to show them how to parry and effectively argue our case, we landed the support of Rep. Warren Chisum, long-known as an arch-conservative, lightning rod author for the most heinous anti-GLBT legislation. His support brought in other crucial moderate GOP co-sponsors and votes and also provided cover for blue dog Dems as well. Our only responsibility was to change the wording to "sexual preference" and "gender non-conformity."
It was a victory I was pleased to help along, but a hollow one personally. In 2001, gender non-conformity was refused inclusion in the bill (with a promise made to me that if we didn't fight this and let this pass, they'd "come back for us" the next session). The bill passed, I held my tongue, but they never "came back" for us. Even this year, while in Austin, I visited with Rep. Chisum again a couple times. He chastised me with reminder that he didn't want to revisit this bill again. However, he was ready once again to support. I'll always remember the bravery of those like Rep. Garnet Coleman, author of 2009's expansion bill in Texas, and the initial co-sponsors like Rep. Rafael Anchia and Rep. Alma Allen, as well as conservative Rep. Chisum and at least one other longtime Republican friend who were ready to bravely support and push this. The bill died in committee after testimony, but these unsung heroes deserve mention.
Memories of victims past stream back. Meeting one of our homeless trans girls in Houston mere months before she was shot and killed in the Montrose sticks in my mind: would this law have helped solve her murder and bring some solace? Seeing the abject, stoic sadness in the faces of the family of Terrianne Summers as I attempted to hold my own emotions in check while eulogizing my activist protégée, knowing her murder is also still unsolved with no justice.
Even in the cases where the murderers were caught, there's only a little solace for the victims' families past. Random memories. Watching the silent tears stream down the solemn face of Paula Mitchell at the Cortez, Colorado vigil in 2001 for her murdered child F.C. Listening to the sobs of Sylvia Guerrero over the phone in 2002, recalling her precious Gwen and how callously her body was dumped and buried, not long after Fred Phelps had found out Sylvia's address and viciously protested in front of her home. Sitting alongside Queen Washington as she recounted for a reporter covering NTAC's 2004 Lobby Day how her baby, Stephanie Thomas, was riddled with bullets a mere block from her home. Hearing the broken-hearted story from Sakia Gunn's mother about the shoddy treatment from Newark authorities and community leaders and later seeing it first-hand in 2004 when our march from West Orange into Newark had only six white faces - four NTAC members and two local PFLAG parents - and was briefly refused entry into the city by police even after organizers had received permits. Hugging an activist friend, Ethan St. Pierre, who was shaken and teary-eyed after having making his very first speech in Boston recounting his aunt, trans woman Deborah Forte, being brutally murdered and having to go to the morgue to identify her body. There's no way to adequately relate experiencing this.
I still recall vividly the long battles and the acrimony over the years of merely having trans people covered by hate crimes. Struggling with conservatives just as we did with the Human Rights Campaign or the Anti-Defamation League for protection. Vehemently arguing with Mara Keisling and Lisa Mottet at the 2003 IFGE convention as they agreed with HRC and ACLU lawyers, and tried to convince me, that "gender" would include "gender identity" due to congressional intent. Less than six month later, finding out first-hand from our own local District Attorney's office that they didn't "give a damn about," nor had the time nor budget to research what congressional intent was as they were following the letter of the law as written in Texas, and nothing beyond.
Even something as indirect as political campaigning paid off. Being an Obama delegate won me few friends in the GLBT community during the primaries. From my lobbying experience though, I knew Hillary Clinton's fondness for incrementalism and lack of knowledge on trans people just as well as I knew Obama's full-scope approach to rights. Trans folks, including myself, fought hard during the campaign up to the national convention and all the way up until election day. That night, 1000 miles from home in battleground Dayton, Ohio, I knew we'd finally won our rights to be included when Ohio was called for Obama and later when it became official that President Barack Obama would soon occupy the White House.
We were branded as pariahs, had our characters impugned and reputations ruined for standing firm on trans inclusion. It was worth it. We now have what we set out to achieve: coverage, rights, recognition. Finally, federally, we're now human.
The Hate Crimes Bill is a watershed symbolic victory for Trans Americans. But beyond the symbolism, we remain vigilant. It's an important first-step, but not the final goal.
This is a guest post by Nancy Nangeroni. Nancy is a transgender community activist, writer, and musician. Former executive director of the International Foundation for Gender Education and former co-host of Gender Talk Radio, she is widely known for her incisive writing and inspiring speaking and media appearances, including the landmark A&E piece "Transgender Revolution." She has been involved in the Transgender community since 1990, and became a leading voice in the Transgender Movement with her call for a national challenge to anti-transgender violence and discrimination in 1995.
Nancy is another member of the trans community who I've asked to share their thoughts on federal hate crime legislation -- the hate crime legislation that was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009.
~~Autumn~~
By Nancy Nangeroni
Picture this: it's a crisp early December night, and you're walking down the sidewalk of a semi-urban street, carrying a candle whose flame flutters in the night, struggling to stay lit. On one arm, the mother of a trans woman who has just been murdered, and on the other, the sister. Trailing behind, a seemingly endless stream of mourners carrying candles. Against the semi-darkness of a busy street dominated by the sound of traffic and the glare of street lights, the stream struggles for visibility. The mother at your side is not shy about sharing her grief with the world around you, and her cries into the night - "Who took my baby!" - echo off the walls on either side. You did not know the murdered girl for whom the outpouring of grief and solidarity materialized almost overnight, but you cannot help but be moved, deeply, by her mother's generous sharing of her grief. You are part of a community of caring people who have lost one of their own to violence. The somber vigil moves on into the night, following as you lead the bereaved family to the site of the brutal crime. Your entire being resonates with shared loss.
Or this: you've been standing outside of a courthouse where the murderer of a transsexual woman is on trial. She was brutally stabbed to death, and you felt compelled to do something, even if it's just standing outside the courthouse holding a sign protesting violence against trans persons. There are only two or three other people with you. A single reporter asks you a few questions, a photographer takes a photo. Then the doors to the courthouse open, and several people emerge. One of them walks over to you. She tells you she's the sister of the murdered woman. Then she gives you a big hug, telling you how much she appreciates you being there. You feel helpless in the face of her loss, which you can't begin to imagine.
Or this: You've been holding a series of demonstrations outside the courthouse where the murderer of another transsexual is being tried. Now, he's being sentenced, and you've once again stood outside the courthouse, handing out fliers protesting the denigration of the victim, the whitewashing of the murderer's guilt. It's your third demonstration in the past several weeks, and only one other person has joined you this time. After awhile, the two of you head inside to witness the sentencing firsthand. As you step off the elevator and turn towards the courtroom, a bathroom door across the hallway opens. A man emerges, and, unbelievably, you recognize the face of the bastard that strangled a transwoman to death in his own bedroom, and who is now trying to get away with it. For an instant, your voice catches in your throat. What do you say? Do you try to make him feel the weight of his guilt, the hurt that he has done not just to that girl, but to a family and a community? Do you lash out at him in raw hatred? Or do you stare at him stonily, and let him imagine his own worst nightmare?
I'm one of the lucky ones. These instances are as close as I've come to the brutality too often dealt to those who dare to follow their own transgender compass. I do what I can to help those less fortunate, joined by a growing community. And now we have a federal Hate Crimes law to help prosecute those who trample our humanity.
This is what progress looks like. It comes too late for too many. But it is the latest of many steps forward, and for that I am grateful.
Gwen is yet another trans community voice who I've asked to share their thoughts on federal hate crime legislation -- the hate crime legislation that was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009.
~~Autumn~~
by Gwendolyn Ann Smith
Since early in the creation and promotion of the Remembering Our Dead project and the Transgender Day of Remembrance, I've made one thing clear: the most important right we can have is simply the right to exist.
When a person is murdered due to anti-transgender violence, it is so often more than a simple killing. Our killers take great pains to obliterate us, participating so often in trying to erase our existence. They'll stab us not once or twice, but dozens or even hundreds of times. They'll cut off our genitals or mutilate our breasts, attempting to destroy not only our bodies but the physical markers of our genders. They'll beat us, strangle us, burn us, and do all they can to make us go away and become a non-being. It's not just murder -- it is eradication.
With the passage of the Matthew Shepard Act, the federal government under President Obama has taken a stand against these acts. No longer is it so easy to erase us, and no longer shall it be acceptable to treat us as disposable. We are now no longer to be treated as such, in much the same way we are protected due to race, color, national origin, ethnicity, sex, gender, sexual orientation, religion, or disability.
Indeed, by the very passage of this bill, actual or perceived gender -- what we identify as, and/or how we are seen -- is not just part of a hate crime law, but it past of the law overall. This is not just saying that we deserve to not be subject to a hate crime, but that we exist in the first place.
Are there still hills to climb? Of course. The law will still need to be seen in use. We'll have to see if it deters any crimes, and if any crimes that do happen are treated as hate crimes. It is one thing to have the language in there, and quite another to see the law applied.
Yet by an act of Congress and the stroke of the President's pen, I and those like me have been brought into existence on a Federal level. They have stood firmly opposite those who would seek to see me and others wiped away and forgotten.
We exist, and no one can take that away from us -- at least not without facing the specter of the Matthew Shepard Act and the 1969 Federal Hate Crimes Law. It feels remarkably good to know this.
This is a guest post by Helen Boyd. Helen Boyd is the author of My Husband Betty and She's Not the Man I Married. Her partner Betty transitioned in the past few years and they've found themselves living in Wisconsin, where Boyd teaches Gender Studies at Lawrence University. Her blog (en)gender can be found at www.myhusbandbetty.com.
Helen, as part of a trans family (and in a community sense, part of
my trans family), is another trans community voice who I asked to share their thoughts on federal hate crime legislation -- the hate crime legislation that was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009. ~~Autumn~~
Why we have to pass a law to tell people it's not okay to hurt or kill people for whom or what they are is beyond me.
Why we have to inform police and other law enforcement that the victim of a crime is a victim of a crime even if she is black, trans, and queer is completely baffling, and frustrating.
Why a person who is different provokes such violent rage is incomprehensible.
What is true is that these kinds of crimes happen, and they are happening this year at an alarming rate. We know, despite the protections that have been on the books a long while, that people are still killed for being black, Muslim or from a country currently out of favor in the US. People have been killed for being gay, for being assumed to be gay, for being trans and for being gendered differently.
We in the trans community know full well that the more crossroads of identity you live with - being black while trans, being female while Muslim, being differently-abled and poor - the more likely it is that you will face discrimination, hate, or violence. Any combination of minority identity leaves you vulnerable.
José Sucuzhañay didn't have time to explain that the man whose arm he was holding was his brother's when he was beaten by homophobic haters one night in Brooklyn. That José Sucuzhañay was already protected against a hate crime as an immigrant and a Latino didn't matter to the guys who thought he was gay. For someone like me, who is lesbian and not-lesbian, queer and heterosexual, explaining the complicated layers of my identity won't help. We are all one object of hate, immigrant and trans person, prostitute and Muslim, brother or wheelchair-dependent person. We are all one in our difference, minorities within a minority, and so the same object of scorn and fear to the people who would harm us.
What the Hate Crimes Act does is make us multiple; the additional protections that have been added to federal Hate Crimes Law help others recognize the many ways we are, and can be. So while we know these laws won't make us safe, they will make the crimes against us countable. They make the fear and mourning of our families visible. These new protections recognize our humanity and our families and our struggles.
Allyson is another trans community voice who I asked to share their thoughts on federal hate crime legislation -- the hate crime legislation that was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009.
~~Autumn~~
By Allyson Robinson
In remarks delivered at the White House reception marking his signature of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, President Obama said, "No one in America should ever be afraid to walk down the street holding the hand of the person they love. No one in America should be forced to look over their shoulder because of who they are." As corny as it sounds, it felt a little like the President was holding my hand or watching my back when he said those words.
My wife Danyelle and I have been married for 15 years and for most of that time, we were that stereotypically sappy couple everyone hates. If we were in arm's reach of each other, we were holding hands. If more than 15 minutes had passed since we'd kissed last, we kissed, and we didn't care who was watching. We were a romantic comedy's worth of winks, loving looks, and giggles. But all that was before I began my gender transition and started being perceived by the public as a woman.
Just a couple of months ago, we were enjoying some time together without our four children - an occurrence that is all too rare for us these days - having dinner and seeing a movie a the local cineplex. As we walked through the mall to the theater, our steps drifted closer to each other, and our hands touched. Instinctively, Danyelle reached out to take my hand in hers. Just as instinctively, I pulled my hand away, lest anyone around us see. She was hurt, and so was I, but talking about it later we both agreed that the risk of harassment or violence was just too great. There will be no more public hand-holding for us. Our fear for our safety has pushed our perfectly legal, perfectly reasonable, perfectly laudable affection for one another into the closet.
Back when I was publicly perceived as a man, I never looked over my shoulder - never. I played high school football, attended Army paratrooper school, led infantry soldiers on patrol through the Korean DMZ and air defense soldiers in convoy through city streets where we knew we were being targeted for terror attacks. I am trained in self-defense and was even a pretty good boxer at West Point. But I've realized that none of these things are what allowed me to walk alone through a dark parking lot or down an alley without fear. What kept me from feeling afraid back then was the simple fact that, as a white male, I was just not a target. It wasn't long after I began my transition that I came to understand just how much things had changed for me. Today I diligently avoid places I never hesitated to enter before because I am a target. With little more than a change of wardrobe, I transited from one of the least vulnerable classes of people in our society to one of the most. Looking over my shoulder has become second nature.
President Obama's words - "No one should be afraid to hold a loved one's hand or be forced to look over their shoulder" - speak to the lofty ideal behind the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. They remind us of our Constitution's commitment to life as the first "inalienable right." They acknowledge painful the truth Americans are often either too ashamed or too arrogant to admit: that some of us have less value in the public mind than others, and crimes committed against us weigh less heavily on the public conscience than crimes committed against others. And they commit the strength of the President, the power of Congress, and the authority of the federal government to the protection of those who are made vulnerable by such prejudice and ignorance. That's what the Shepard-Byrd Act means to me.
Let's be realistic: this law will not prevent the next anti-trans or anti-gay hate crime from happening, nor the one after that. Hate will hurt and kill again, and again. Danyelle and I don't feel any safer holding hands in public today than we did yesterday, and I'll still look over my shoulder when I walk to my car tonight. But something has changed. Yesterday, my own federal government had not yet embraced its responsibility to guarantee my right to life by protecting me, and those like me, from acts of senseless violence. Today, my human value, as a transgender person and a lesbian, is explicitly acknowledged, for the first time in history, in the law of the land.
One of the elder statesmen of the LGBT civil rights movement once told me that, as hard as passing good laws is, it's really one of the easiest parts of our work. "The hard part," he said, "is changing the culture in ways that undergird those good laws - so that our children's generation will find it hard to believe we needed laws like this in the first place." I think, though, that good laws - when they're properly understood and adequately enforced - can contribute to cultural change. Because of the Shepard-Byrd Act, maybe one day my children will really be able to hold the hand of a loved one without being afraid of how people will react or walk down the street without looking over their shoulder. Then, and only then, will our work be done.
These two are also trans community voices whom I asked to share their thoughts on federal hate crime legislation that was signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009.
~~Autumn~~
By Mila L-Pavlin and Jayna L-Pavlin
Yesterday, we awoke with the expectation of a day like any other, confident that we were safe in a place like San Francisco. The cold wind caught our wet hair as we scrambled to the car so we could get to work on time. The usual fun chatter in the morning with one another, and traffic that seemed endless filled the early hours with the usual grumbles mixed with perky jokes. Yesterday was different however, different in a way that still has not yet passed between the rational, analytic part to the emotional centers of our brain. Yesterday around mid day, someone 3000 miles away decided that they would pick up a pen and scrawl a name on a piece of paper. Someone 3000 miles away, decided that they would have compassion on us without ever knowing who we were. Someone 3000 miles away decided that we were human and worthy of the value that it implies.
Today we speak for the nameless ones who we would never know, but should be proud to call sister and brother. In every civil rights struggle, there is a basic threshold that must be reached. The idea that a group is more than an object to be laughed at and disposed of, to be used and dismissed, negotiated away to advance another group, and that the group deserves the basic right of life. The Hate Crimes Law does more than just add some wallop additional penalty to the sentencing at a criminal trial, or add a few extra dollars for crime prevention. It sends a message to our fellow Americans saying "think twice before you kill me, because someone 3000 miles away cares enough to recognize me. I am not an invisible object that will disappear when you throw me away. I am not a disposable doll that you can break without someone taking notice. I am not worthless, and I WILL be missed! Think twice when you hit me saying out loud 'it's not like it was a school teacher...or some upstanding citizen', think twice before you hit me again, calling me names and laughing to your friends. I AM HUMAN, at least to one person, with a pen, 3000 miles away, and those who did the hard work and got that piece of paper to that desk. People have shown they can care."
The world changes, and in such a dramatic way that no one may take notice at first. So dramatically that someone who is walking alone in the Midwest, who never owned a TV and can't get a job to pay their bill, may never know, but is affected. When that truck of reckless bullies drives their beat up pickup truck towards her, and fondles their baseball bats and crowbars, thinking of all the fun they will have beating up that poor defenseless "it", suddenly now, they may think twice, and SHE becomes human, and they keep driving, because someone 3000 miles away put ink to a piece of paper that they never saw. They may not pay attention to TV or have internet or listen to the radio, but the world has changed, and they will begin to know whether they are conscious of this change or not.
Cherish this day my fellow Transgender Americans. Today we are human in the eyes of federal law for the first time, a recognized minority worthy of protections long denied, and we should celebrate. We should raise our hands in praise for the thousands of fellow humans who now have a chance, because they are no longer disposable and easily forgotten by a government that has callously turned a blind eye to our very existence in the past.
The challenges are still many, as those that are about to live still are jobless. Many are still homeless and forced into lives that are less than. For the first time however, we were not cast aside, and for that we should be grateful. Now that we are human, perhaps others will listen when we tell them that we too have basic human needs, like food and homes. That yes, just like everyone else we should be able to live and make a living to support ourselves.
Our next great fight now that we are human, is a hope, that 3000 miles away, someone with a pen might say we are worthy of having our livelihoods protected.
Below is a guest post by my best friend Vicki Estrada. She's in one of the roughly 18,000 legal same sex marriages here in California, and has been a local activist on trans issues in my hometown of in San Diego.
She's the owner and chief executive of Estrada Land Planning, and as a landscape architect involved with public planning for the City of San Diego, she wrote Balboa Park's Master Plan that was adopted by the city in 2008. She's also designed public space in San Diego -- in my opinion, the most interesting piece of public design from her is the Ocean Beach Skate Park.
I asked Vicki Estrada, along with several other voices in the trans community, to share their thoughts on federal hate crime legislation being signed by President Obama on October 28, 2009.
~~Autumn~~
By Vicki Estrada
Like any other weekday morning, I awoke this morning to the sounds of National Public Radio. An unusually cold morning for San Diego, I snuggled into bed for a few more moments of sleep and hopefully some last minute dreams which I so enjoy. Half asleep, I faintly hear the voice of Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality on the radio saying what a historic day today (October 28, 2009) is for Transgender people. This afternoon, President Obama will sign the Hate Crimes Prevention Act which will be the first time Transgender people will be mentioned in a Federal Act in a positive way. For this topic to be National news is significant enough but the signing of this Act is quite historic. Will the mere signing of this Act stop transphobia and transgender hate? Not initially of course, but it will bring our cause, our existence, our plight to the public forefront and it will allow local agencies to better fight and track down those that will partake in hate crimes against us and hopefully, help prevent these hate crimes.
As an openly out and proud Latina post-op transsexual that transitioned (quite publicly) four years ago and also in a same sex marriage, this is very good news indeed, but the underlying issue remains. Why is such a law needed in the first place? Why are we hated so? After all, this is a "Prevention Act", not a "Prosecution Act". The majority of our effort should be to educate and inform, to eliminate the fear that many have of transgender people. Only in this way, will transgender hate crimes be eventually eliminated. How do we do this? An anti-hate law is just the start. We need to integrate. We need to educate. We need to participate. We need to show our communities that we can be positive role models, leaders, creators and teachers. But we need to be given that chance, and that is where the problem lies. Today's signing of the Act is just the beginning. Let us move forward with pride and not shame changing the perceptions and feelings of those that surround us. There will come a day when we are revered, not feared, but only if we continue the effort that so many have given that allowed today's signing to happen.
"I am pleased that today we were able to move the conference report for the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2010 a step closer to passage this afternoon. But I'm disappointed that Senate Republicans have decided that defeating hate crimes legislation takes precedent over supporting our troops.
"It is outrageous and unacceptable that Senate Republicans would vote against pay raises for our troops, battlefield equipment upgrades and increased funding for veterans' health care as we continue to fight two wars. And they decided to do this all for the sake of stopping passage of landmark legislation that will bring justice to those who commit violent crimes based on bigotry and prejudice. What message does that send to our country and, more importantly, to our troops?"
~Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid
The bigotry and prejudice Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid mentions is against lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) people. Some of us are servicemembers; some of us are, like me, veterans; some of us are, like me, are actually LGBT disabled veterans. The Republican votes against this bill, when one condiders that there are LGBT veterans and disabled veterans, really was "outrageous and unacceptable."
As many of us trans folk know, we often get erased from the coverage of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) federal legislation. I watched yesterday as Rachel Maddow wonderfully mentioned "gender identity" in the passage of The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act:
Well, to keep the reality in focus for trans people, The Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act is the very first piece of federal legislation that includes gender identity. Let me say that again: this is the first piece of federal legislation that specifically includes transgender people.
And, President Obama has promised he will sign the bill, and that will likely happen next week.
I talked to Adam Bass -- Senior Media Strategist with the Gay and Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation (GLAAD) -- on the phone today about the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. I worked with him closely during the coverage of the Angie Zapata...we were both deeply affected by covering that trial. Today I'm thinking of Angie as I think of this bill, so naturally I thought of Adam. I asked for his comments on the House and Senate passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act, and this is what he said:
As we await President Obama's signature on the recently passed hate crimes bill, I can't help but think of Angie Zapata Last April, I sat in a court room with Angie's family and friends and listened about the horrific last few hours of her life - when she was brutally beaten to death, simply because another human being hated that she was transgender. Angie was a young, vibrant, beautiful sister, aunt and daughter. She's someone I would have loved to have known. It is remarkable to think that in a very short time we will see the nation's first gender-identity inclusive bill signed into law by the President of the United States. It is an incredible signal of respect for Angie and all the other transgender and gay people who have been taken from us through hate violence.
I couldn't agree more with Adam.
Below the fold is a collection of what leading transgender civil rights organizations have said about passage of the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd, Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act. Please take a read -- what they have to say seems pretty important to hear.
With the federal hate crimes legislation passing out of The House last week, The Senate this week, and is going to be signed into law by The President likely next week, I've asked some trans voices to speak their thoughts on what the passing of this particular, fully inclusive piece of legislation means to them. Below is the first article of this series, and it's by Ethan St. Pierre.
To say that I am thrilled over the passage of the Matthew Shepard, James Byrd Jr. hate crimes prevention act is an understatement. Many people in the transgender community, myself included, have spent many years lobbying and educating people just to have gender identity included in the bill and to see a fully inclusive hate crimes bill head to the President's desk is beyond my wildest dreams. I wasn't sure if I'd see it happen in my lifetime.
Some years after losing my aunt, Debra Forte to a hate crime, I found the Remembering Our Dead web project and it's creator, Gwen Smith who also founded the Transgender Day of Remembrance. I thought it was a great way to educate people about the level of anti-transgender bias that we face and have been helping Gwen ever since in any way that I can.
Yesterday, as I monitored the progress of the hate crimes bill in the Senate, I was also busy typing in the names of the transgender people we have lost over the past year due to anti-transgender hatred or prejudice. It was a very emotional day.
I happened to see a number of articles begin to surface and quotes made by some transgender people that need mentioning. One was from a Transgender person in Florida who commented that the passage of the hate crimes bill meant that she no longer had to be fearful. That struck me hard because it simply is not true. The passage of the hate crimes bill will not prevent someone from harming you; I hate to think that this may cause some sense of false security for some people.
The hate crimes bill will ensure that transgender people be counted in a separate category in the yearly hate crimes report published by the FBI as well as to provide federal funding to help defer the cost of investigations when a hate crime does occur.
It also sends a clear message to law enforcement as well as to society that our lives are valued and that hate crime committed against us will no longer be tolerated.
This is a wonderful win and we should all be celebrating! I know that I will be take some time out to do that. We deserve it.
However, it does not mean that our work is finished. Legislation alone does not change the hearts and minds of the people who don't know us. Education is needed now more than ever, and I look towards Events like the International Transgender Day of Remembrance. Also, state and local groups -- as well as national organizations such as the International Foundation for Gender Education -- will continue the work that needs to be done.
As a person born and residing in the commonwealth of Massachusetts, I cannot write about the passage of the hate crimes bill without thanking Senator Kennedy for the work he's done. I just wish he were alive to see the passage of the bill.
For years, transgender activists fought to be included in this legislation because of the ongoing level of violence against transgender people across the nation. For many of us, the darkest hour came in 2005 when nearly 40 national groups singed a joint letter to members of the U.S. Senate urging them to adopt the fully inclusive bill which had passed the House, while another group, after pledging they would fight "only" for fully inclusive legislation, both refused to sign that letter and issued its own urging Senators to ignore the House action and adopt a separate bill that left transgender people. The argument that this "strategy" was necessary to pass such a bill was bigoted and, simply, poor politics.
Like any other weekday morning, I awoke this morning to the sounds of National Public Radio. An unusually cold morning for San Diego, I snuggled into bed for a few more moments of sleep and hopefully some last minute dreams which I so enjoy. Half asleep, I faintly hear the voice of Mara Keisling of the National Center for Transgender Equality on the radio saying what a historic day today (October 28, 2009) is for Transgender people. This afternoon, President Obama will sign the Hate Crimes Prevention Act which will be the first time Transgender people will be mentioned in a Federal Act in a positive way. For this topic to be National news is significant enough but the signing of this Act is quite historic. Will the mere signing of this Act stop transphobia and transgender hate? Not initially of course, but it will bring our cause, our existence, our plight to the public forefront and it will allow local agencies to better fight and track down those that will partake in hate crimes against us and hopefully, help prevent these hate crimes.
I worked with him closely during the coverage of the 
